Invest in the Future of the Mighty Sound of Maryland

Your gift will have twice the impact! Thanks to a generous alum, all donations to the Student Scholarship Fund will be matched, and your donation will be doubled. 

Established by Dotty Reitwiesner ’78, the Marching Band Student Support Endowment provides scholarships to marching band students from all majors across campus. Since its founding, Mighty Sound of Maryland supporters have generously contributed more than $100,000 to support student scholarships.

A gift of any size will help strengthen the Marching Band Student Support Endowment, providing scholarship support for generations of MSOM students. Your generosity will help ensure that students can continue to experience the transformative opportunities of the Mighty Sound of Maryland year after year.

A personal call to action from Dotty: 

When I was in the marching band, I had to juggle school, my part-time job, and band. So it was an easy decision to help band members by creating a scholarship fund. A little help can go a long way toward making marching band participation less financially stressful. Please make a gift today and join me in growing this endowed scholarship. I have met some of the scholarship recipients, and each has expressed gratitude to all of the donors who contribute to this fund. And every recipient is a reflection of the band members we all marched with at UMD. Together, we can make MSOM the best band in the land!

Your gift to the scholarship fund will have a positive and meaningful impact. Our best advocates are our MSOM scholarship recipients. This year, eleven students received awards. Here are their thank-you notes:

The MSOM scholarship fund has given me the opportunity to focus on what matters most to me: school, professional internships, and my role as a leader in band. This financial freedom has made a tremendous difference in my life and allows me to give back to the MSOM community that has been my home throughout college. Thank you! 

Coming into college, I didn’t think I’d be able to juggle school, work, and marching band. But thanks to the MSOM Scholarship Fund, I can enjoy doing the thing I love without the burden of suffering financially or academically as a byproduct.

Your generous gift will greatly assist in my ability to persist and thrive in MSOM. I am paying for my education, so awards such as these are paramount in helping me balance MSOM with my academic commitments, mainly by reducing the amount I have to work at my 2 campus jobs. By work less hours, I can focus more on being a great leader for my section, bonding with my section, be less stressed about the time commitment, and mitigate the opportunity cost of not working during rehearsal hours.

Receiving this assistance allows me to shift my focus away from financial stress and more fully toward the incomparable experiences MSOM has to offer. It means so much to receive this support from an organization that has become one of the highlights of my personal and educational career.

The MSOM Scholarship Fund is a great financial help. With it, I can worry less about how I'm paying for rent and groceries, and focus more on putting my all into being part of the band.

Receiving this assistance took some financial burden off of having to work a campus job while also being a full-time student. I am very grateful for the giving nature of people who donate to MSOM to help students like me. This scholarship allows me to dedicate more time to music and my studies.

As a senior, the MSOM Scholarship Fund helps me focus on my undergrad career as I prepare for graduate school while still being able to perform at my best for the Mighty Sound of Maryland. My family and I are truly grateful for this assistance and the financial relief it brings.

Thank you so much for this assistance. Since my current financial aid doesn’t cover my tuition, this assistance will help me to buy groceries, and help me pay rent for the apartment I live in. This allows me to better enjoy the time I spend in band instead of working a part-time job.

I am so grateful that I was selected to receive this financial assistance. Being out of state and balancing classes, this assistance is beneficial to my overall participation in MSOM this season, helping me strive and push for more. I am so proud to be a part of MSOM118! Thank you.

Receiving this assistance is beneficial to my participation in MSOM by shifting my focus away from financial challenges and towards the fantastic experiences I have in Marching Band, my classes, and other extracurriculars. As a Senior, internships, higher-level courses, incoming graduate applications, and beyond have added a lot of stress to my schedule, and MSOM has continued to be a part of my college life that grounds me through these challenging moments. I am incredibly grateful for the support! 

Thank you so much for providing this financial relief. I will now be able to participate in MSOM without the overwhelming worry of adding a job to my already busy schedule, and I am glad that I can happily be in MSOM and continue to give my best efforts.

Thank you for generously supporting future generations of MSOM students!

Check out a performance by the Mighty Sound of Maryland from last season!

Gifts in support of the University of Maryland are accepted and managed by the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, Inc., an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization authorized by the Board of Regents. Contributions to the University of Maryland are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Please see your tax advisor for details.